Mostar tries to span gulf between Bosnian communities

I was staring at a starving kitten licking grease from a brown paper bag on a street lined with crumbling, bullet-pockmarked buildings when a young guy in jeans and a leather jacket sidled up and offered to sell me a video. "It's boys jumping off bridge," he whispered, "only 17 euros."

The bridge is the iconic Stari Most, a graceful 16th-century stone arch spanning the brilliant blue-green Neretva River in Mostar, the most important town in Bosnia-Herzegovina after Sarajevo, the capital. The original Ottoman-era bridge, built with bone-coloured stone, using mortar made with mother's milk, eggs and goat hair, was famous throughout eastern Europe. Shelled by Bosnian Croats in 1993 during the Bosnian war, its deliberate destruction made headlines around the world.

In 2004, it was rebuilt using many of the original stones, and raised hopes that Croat Catholics and Bosnian Muslims who live on opposite sides of the river could be reunited. Every August, as they have done for hundreds of years, young men compete in diving contests, plunging 21 metres from the bridge into the frigid waters below. Now they are joined by international divers and visitors on day trips from Dubrovnik on the Croatian coast who are increasingly curious about exploring the ancient towns and landscapes saturated in the complex and difficult history of the region.

I didn't buy a video of this celebrated local event. Instead I wandered through the mostly Croat western outskirts where damaged buildings are reminders that Mostar was one of the most heavily bombarded towns during the war. Here I met Maria, a doctor's daughter who moonlights from her teaching job to work as a guide. The first thing she announced was, "I'm a Catholic," as she gestured toward an enormous Muslim cemetery that she said had previously been a park.

Before the 1992-1995 war, she explained, everyone had lived together in Mostar more or less in harmony - Bosnian Muslims, a Bosnian Serb minority, and Bosnian Croats. Now, the town is divided. Most Serbs have gone. Muslims and Catholics each have their own schools and hospitals. "If I get sick in the Muslim quarter, I'll have to go back to the Catholic area to get treated," she said.

Its distinctive Ottoman architecture has long made Mostar an intriguing place to visit, so Maria strolled with me toward the Old Town, which straddles the river and clings to the stark mountains that provide the crystalline streams that feed the Neretva. We passed by the 16th-century tabacini mosque, through the cobble-stoned narrow souk area, until we reached the famous bridge with its fortified towers at each end.

Crowds of excited children on school trips hung over the parapet, snapping pictures of each other on this poignantly symbolic structure, which has become something of a pilgrim site.

We stared at the glinting river winding along a tree-lined gorge, the town's pink and white buildings with heavy stone-tiled roofs, and the domes and minarets of mosques rearing up against the stark mountains behind.

Nearby, a small museum displays exhibits that recount events of the recent war during which most of the Old Town was extensively damaged or destroyed. Although some of the large Austro-Hungarian buildings are still in ruins, the Catholic cathedral, the Franciscan monastery, the synagogue, and many Ottoman-era buildings have been repaired or rebuilt with help from UNESCO. A couple of fine 17th-century merchant's houses open to the public combine regional and Turkish styles and are furnished with plush divans, rich carpets, white lace, brass and carved wood. The houses are built around whitewashed courtyards and refreshing fountains.

Maria takes me to Koski Mehmed-pasha's mosque built in 1635, one of the many mosques with new minarets replacing those destroyed during the war. "You don't have to take your shoes off," she advised as we entered a space remarkable for its lightness and delicacy. Outside, a stone shrine of sheih Dervish Ishak, who died in 1737, sits in a courtyard where brilliantly coloured hand-woven carpets are on sale.

Mostar was always an important trading centre, renowned for its artisans' fine workmanship. Today the bazaar's tiny dark shops spill out their wares into the narrow streets crammed with antiques, ornate silver coffee sets, jewellery, and the image of the famous bridge reproduced over and over again in paintings, wooden carvings and copper pictures. But there's also a brisk trade in pens made out of brass bullet-casings, shells and mortars embossed with picturesque scenes, blue UN helmets and other war memorabilia.

After all the sightseeing, shopping for amulets to ward off the evil-eye and buying CDs of local musicians, it was time for lunch of freshly caught trout in one the many lively cafés and restaurants that overlook the river and the famous bridge.

I'd come to Mostar from Dubrovnik, just a three-hour drive away. Dubrovnik was also heavily damaged during the war, but apart from the tell-tale bright-red new tiled roofs, traces of the conflict have almost been erased from the elegant white-marble medieval Venetian style walled-city. Its narrow streets are jammed with tourists, many from cruise ships.

But driving from the coast to Mostar, past 16th-century pirate towers guarding access to the Neretva River, past the ancient stone village of Pocitelj, a scene of destruction during the war, I came across reminders of the continuing tensions in the region. Bosnia-Herzegovina has only a tiny strip of coastline on the Adriatic Sea, but it separates the isolated southern part of Croatia from the Croatian mainland. Up to now, the only way to travel between the two parts of Croatia is through Bosnia-Herzegovina. But Croatia is now building a 21/2-kilometre bridge to connect the Peljesac Peninsular in the south to the mainland, bypassing Bosnia Herzegovina. The enterprise has involved years of wrangling and disputes between the two countries.

Croatia's spectacularly beautiful coastline, island hot spots, and unspoiled beaches have enabled it to quickly reconstruct a well-developed tourist infra-structure, which now accounts for 24 per cent of the country's income. Smaller and economically poorer Bosnia-Herzegovina doesn't have these advantages, but even a day trip to Mostar is a reminder of how people who have been through terrible catastrophes do not give up, but work to rebuild their lives and their towns.

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If You Go

From Dubrovnik, Atlas Tour Company (www.atlas-croatia.com, 011-385-20-442900,) organizes day trips to Mostar for $82.

Twice daily bus service runs from the main bus terminal in Dubrovnik to Mostar. Themodern intercity buses take about three hours, and tickets cost about $14.